Pastor John-Paul Miller pleads not guilty to cyberstalking wife until her death

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Wednesday, January 14, 2026

South Carolina Pastor John-Paul Miller, who is accused of making false statements to federal investigators and cyberstalking his estranged wife, Mica Miller, for nearly two years until she took her own life in 2024, has pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court.

Painted as a flight risk by prosecutors during his court appearance in Florence on Monday, Miller, the 46-year-old former leader of Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, was offered a $100,000 bond, ordered to stay away from any victims or family related to the case and must wear an ankle monitor, according to court records.

As conditions of his bond, Miller is barred from leaving South Carolina without permission from the U.S. Probation Office, possessing a firearm, drinking excessive alcohol, and is required to surrender his passport, among other things.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina alleges in an indictment filed on Dec. 17 that Miller began cyberstalking Mica Miller on or around Nov. 16, 2022, until her death on April 27, 2024.

The indictment alleges Miller’s actions were carried out with the “intent to kill, injure, harass, intimidate, or place under surveillance with the intent to kill, injure, harass” and intimidate Mica Miller, who is identified in the indictment as Victim 1.

Prosecutors say Miller used or threatened to use nude videos and photographs of his late wife to harass her an also posted a nude photograph of her online without her consent. He further “placed or caused to be placed tracking devices on vehicles” used by Mica Miller and interfered with her finances, banking and daily activities.

Authorities say the pastor “knowingly and willfully” made a “materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement to federal investigators when he claimed Mica Miller called him more than he had called her on March 11, 2024.

“The defendant John Paul Miller, called Victim 1 at least 50 times more than she called him; he falsely claimed police had never told him to stop contacting Victim 1, when in fact, the defendant, John Paul Miller, was told on March 11, 2024, by a police officer with Horry County Police Department to stop contacting Victim 1,” the indictment notes.

Investigators allege that John-Paul Miller falsely claimed he did not damage Mica Miller’s tires on her car, but it was shown that he “used or caused to be used” a tire deflation device to remove the air from her tires.

Miller faces a maximum of five years in prison for cyberstalking and two years for false statements. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000.

Earlier court records show that before her suicide, Mica Miller filed for divorce from her husband in October 2023, but the reasons were not stated.

The case was eventually dismissed in February. But a few days later, Pastor Miller filed for "Separate Support and Maintenance," seeking financial support. Mica Miller would file for similar support in April 2024. A hearing was scheduled for June 5 that year.

On April 27, two days after she served her husband with divorce papers, Mica Miller was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to her head in Lumber River State Park in Orrum, North Carolina.

In a sworn affidavit filed as part of her application to serve as special administrator for her sister's estate, Sierra Francis said Mica Miller had served her husband with divorce papers on April 25 and was looking forward to being free of him.

"My sister was hopeful for her future after filing for divorce from John-Paul," Francis wrote in the affidavit.